Hide and Seek (All games have a winner and a loser)
by Estoma
Summary: Featuring: a simple girl, a boy with a lopsided smile, a game, and a choice that isn't really a choice at all. For Caesar's Palace one shot challenge.


Hide and Seek (All games have a winner and a loser)

**_A 'simple' girl_**

Cotton knows about hiding. Hiding is what she does when her brothers start to count _one, two, three_ and close their eyes. At home, she has three good hiding places: behind her father's cloth dummies, standing still as one of them and trying not to tread on the measuring tapes on the floor, under the stairs, and crouched next to the hearth. The last one isn't the best because she can only stay for a little while before _hiding _turns to _hot, burning, have to move, lose the game._

Hiding is also what she does in the arena. When Patch says hide, Cotton crouches behind a rock that's taller than her father. His hand goes over her mouth and it's _sweaty, hard to breathe, heart beating fast, fast, fast._

She still hides even when Patch isn't crouching next to her anymore. She's not sure why he jumps out, but maybe because two people can't share the same spot. He must not have seen the seeker though, because he jumps out nearly in front of them when they're coming really close to the hiding place.

Cotton knows the rules of _hide and seek_ and the rules of _catch me if you can_ but she doesn't know the game where they go together. The seeker tags Patch, _hard, rough like an older brother_ and then Patch is still _lying down, face in the dirt_, _not moving_. Maybe he's tired of playing?

Cotton guesses that must be the case and the _big, silver, shining hook, looks like crochet but bigger, bigger, more silver _takes him away to rest. Except he leaves her, and Cotton knows she's _not allowed to play alone, do you understand that?_

When the sky darkens to _time for dinner and make sure you eat your veggies _Cotton sees Patch's face in the sky and waves. It's not a _hello, will you play? _wave; it's more like _please come back and take me too because I'm scared._

And she is scared. Really scared. The sort of feeling that's different from the normal _there's a monster under the bed_ or _mum and dad have to go to work now, you be good and don't answer the door. _It could even be fear, but Cotton doesn't know that word. There are plenty of words she doesn't know; like mace, career, blood, dead and arena. She's a bit sketchy on Hunger Games too.

**A****_ boy with a lopsided grin_**

In the darkening arena, Fallon carefully rolls the sparse dry grass into a ball and sets a match to the middle. Soon, smoke curls up towards the faces of the dead tributes-towards the face of the tribute he killed today. Fallon recognizes the picture labeled 'District 8 male' as his kill.

Sitting down by the fire, he warms his hands and breathes in the smoke. He's one of the few tributes in the arena not afraid to light a fire. After all, he isn't hiding; he's a career and he's the one everyone else is hiding from. He's done well today. A silver parachute spirals down and the code stamped on the side reads, 'Lockyer, Fallon, D2'. Opening it, Fallon tears off a piece of flat bread from home and enjoys his reward for killing today.

**_A game_**

Cotton sees a fire not far away and smells smoke that makes her think _hurry up, your bath is ready, come while it's hot. _She remembers she shouldn't play alone and because it's dark like _there's something coming to gobble you up_ she moves towards the fire.

Remembering _you mustn't ever, ever talk to strangers,_ Cotton crouches down by another large rock and watches. But the boy at the fire isn't a stranger; she remembers him from the huge room full of _sharp, you can't touch that. _She remembers hiding behind a row of cloth dummies like her father had when he found her.

The boy with the smile that goes up on one side and not on the other _just like her brother's_, taps her on the shoulder and tells her he found her. He also says she shouldn't hide there because someone might spear her. Cotton doesn't know what _spear_ is so she asks if he wants to hide this time. He offers for her to hide again and turns his back and counts _one, two, three, and more _by throwing some of the _long, sharp, silver_ at the dummies. It's like when her father puts pins and needles in his dummies back home, but _harder, faster, bigger, sweating and muscles tensing._

Cotton hides behind a bush with flowers the color of _you've pricked your finger on a needle again, you shouldn't touch those _and waits. The boy finds her and taps her shoulder and this time he counts by hauling himself up a rope, _hand over hand over hand_ and finds her again. He says he shouldn't play anymore so Cotton goes to find Patch because _I'll always play with you, Cotton, until it's time to go home, I promise._

**_A choice that isn't really a choice_**

Stepping into the circle of the fire, Cotton smiles her _just one more story because I'm scared, please mum _smile and waits. The boy with the smile _just like her brother's_ has something _heavy with spikes like big needles_ in his hand.

"What are you doing?" His voice is all _you shouldn't be up this late_ with a hint of _you tore up your only good dress to make doll clothes?_

"Not allowed to play alone," Cotton says sensibly, and in case he can't tell, "it's dark."

"I know," and this time his voice is _sorry I have to work late tonight._

"Patch is gone," Cotton says.

"Patch?"

"He was playing with me but he's gone home now," Cotton explains seriously.

The boy swallows just like _this bread is too dry, can I have some milk to wash it down, no there isn't any, of course._ "He's dead. I killed him. He's not home, he's dead."

Cotton doesn't know what _killed _and _dead_ mean so she sits down in front of the rock the boy is sitting on and draws her knees up to her chest. She smiles into the fire then leans back against the boy's warm legs. She takes a piece of bread from his hand which is slack like _dad fell asleep at his work desk again and the thread got tangled. _It's tough on her teeth and _not like home but nice and smoky._

Cotton closes her eyes and leans her head back against his knees. When he puts both his hands on her face like _come here for a goodnight kiss, darling_ she doesn't even startle. Then he tenses his arms and twists like-

**_All games have a winner and a loser_**

After her neck snaps, Fallon lets the little girl's body flop back against his knees and her blonde plait swings down nearly to his boots. He doesn't know her name; she's just the simple girl who was hiding in the training center, and now, kill number five.

Fallon grits his teeth as the cannon fires and feels the girl's dead weight on his legs. He wishes he hadn't lit the fire now. Her body is very light in his arms when Fallon picks her up and carries her away from his campsite. A piece of bread falls from her hand and he kicks it angrily into the fire that drew her like a moth to be burnt.

It's dark, and he stumbles once and holds the girl's body close, reflexively. Fallon walks twenty meters away and sets the body down on the ground. There isn't another flat spot, so she looks uncomfortable. Fallon leaves quickly so the hovercraft can take her, and he doesn't want anyone to raid his camp; there's a good mace there.

When Fallon sits down again, he leans his head forwards in his hands and doesn't look at the little, blackening piece of bread near the coals. He plucks a long, blonde hair from his trousers and twists it in between his fingers. In the firelight, it's burnished gold. He coils it around and around his finger so he won't forget the little girl.

Four other kills have come and gone and he's washed the blood off his hands (and face sometimes) and hasn't cried. Now he does. His shoulders shake silently like _can I go home; this isn't what I volunteered for._

When Fallon goes on to win, the giant Capitol screens will show all his kills. They'll show each of them in perfect clarity and the citizens will lean forwards with drinks in their hands and clap when Fallon shatters the District 8 boy's head with a mace.

Cotton will only appear on screen for a moment, because it's required to show all the kills. She'll be visible for less time than it takes for her neck to break, and the Capitolites will use her appearance as a chance to signal the avoxes for another drink, without missing anything important.

But a moment will be enough to trace the simple girl onto even their cold hearts, and they will remember.

* * *

**Author's note: For the one shot challenge at Caesar's Palace. If you'd like to read more about Fallon Lockyer please check out ****_Depraved and Devious._**


End file.
